SEC coaches plan to avoid offseason jabs, jokes

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DESTIN, Fla. (AP) - South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier fondly recalls one of his best jabs.

The coach says, "Citrus and UT, now that's original."

The former Florida coach is referring to his late-1990s joke about rival Tennessee, which played in the Citrus Bowl three times over a four-year span.

"You can't spell Citrus without U-T," Spurrier said back then.

That kind of razzing continued for years in the Southeastern Conference, with coaches drawing hearty laughs with witty one-liners aimed at heated rivals. Most of those came at annual booster tours, which were basically offseason pep rallies.

Now, thanks partly to the growth of social media as well as a few recent slip-ups pointed toward Alabama coach Nick Saban, that kind of back-and-forth frivolity could be headed the way of the wishbone.